Director

Hanan Hammad
Professor
The Arab-American Educational Foundation Chair in Modern Arab History and Director of the AAEF Center of Arab Studies.
hhhammad@uh.edu

Program Director

Patrick Higgins
Program Director of the AAEF Center of Arab Studies
phiggins@central.uh.edu 

Hosam Aboul-Ela
Inaugural holder of the Arab-American Educational Foundation Burhan and
Misako Ajouz Professorship in Arab Studies at the University of Houston
Professor, Department of English  
haboul-ela@uh.edu

Hayan Charara
Poet, novelist, children’s book author, essayist, and editor
Associate Professor, The Honors College
hcharara@uh.edu

David McNally
Cullen Distinguished Professor of History & Business Department of History
djmcnally@uh.edu

Cihan Yüksel Acting Director (AY 2022-23)
Arab-American Educational Foundation Center for Arab Studies
Associate Professor of Ottoman History Department of History
ecyuksel@uh.edu

Marwa Ghazali
Assistant Professor, Anthropology
mghazali@uh.edu

Dina Alsowayel (retired)
Associate Director of the Women's, Gender & Sexuality Studies
dalsoway@central.uh.edu

Hadeel Assalihassali@central.uh.edu

Dr. Emran El-Badawi
Dean of the College of Liberal & Fine Arts, Tarleton State University
eelbadawi@tarleton.edu

Ali Yildirim
Visiting Scholar, Women's, Gender & Sexuality Studies ayildiri@Central.UH.EDU 

Ussama Makdisi
Professor of History and Chancellor's Chair
University of California, Berkeley
makdisi@berkeley.edu

Abdel Razzaq Takriti
Founding Director of the Arab-American Educational Foundation Center for Arab Studies and 
Inaugural holder of the Arab-American Educational Foundation Chair in Modern Arab History.
He is currently Associate Professor of History and Arab-American Educational Foundation Chair in Arab Studies at Rice University
atakriti@rice.edu